Chinatsu firmly refused and delivered a backhanded Hand Chop to Zenitsu, who instantly felt as though another bolt from the blue had struck him. Don't think he was exaggerating-Zenitsu really had been struck by lightning before. That inexplicable bolt had turned his black hair blond on the spot...
"Wh... why? Wait, your voice sounds familiar... Could you be!!!" As though he had remembered something, Zenitsu immediately pointed a finger at Chinatsu, who was draped in a black cloak.
He remembered that voice. It belonged to that person from the Final Selection...
Chinatsu threw off her black cloak, her cold eyes settling on Zenitsu. He immediately recalled what had happened during the Final Selection.
"You two are the swordsmen who chased demons around killing them during the Final Selection!" Terrified, Zenitsu scrambled backward several times while still seated on the ground, putting some distance between himself and Chinatsu and Tanjiro.
Just as he was about to turn and run, the Little Sparrow assigned to him after he passed the Final Selection flew in front of him and furiously pecked at his forehead.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
"Ow, ow, ow! What are you doing? Are you bullying me too? Boo-hoo, I'm so miserable..."
Chinatsu and Tanjiro stood to one side, quietly admiring the masterpiece that was a human being bullied by a Little Sparrow. They couldn't resist commenting.
Tanjiro: "Is this guy... an idiot?"
Chinatsu: "Yes, obviously."
Then, thanks to Tanjiro's miraculous ability to understand what the Little Sparrow was saying, they finally learned what was going on. Zenitsu Agatsuma was also on his way to slay a demon; he had accepted the same quest as Chinatsu and Tanjiro.
Once Zenitsu calmed down, he gradually began telling them about his circumstances. It turned out he had joined the Demon Slayer Corps because a former girlfriend had swindled him out of his money. A Cultivator from the Demon Slayer Corps had paid off his debt, and he had become the Cultivator's disciple, studying Thunder Breathing, one of the Basic Breathing Styles. He was an odd sort of prodigy who could use only one Thunder Breathing technique.
"Tanjiro, you have to protect me!"
"Uh... shouldn't you stay closer to my sister, then? She's much stronger than I am."
"Huh? Th... th... that won't work either. Let me tell you quietly-I'm a little scared of her. I keep feeling like if I get close, your sister will take the top of my head off."
"She wouldn't do that..."
Tanjiro answered softly, a little embarrassed. Although his sister could be quite frightening at times, she was gentle more often than not.
Zenitsu didn't believe a word of it. He thought Tanjiro was perfectly fine. If Tanjiro were a girl, he would absolutely pursue him like mad.
His wife material rating is off the charts!
As they traveled together, they soon arrived in front of a large mansion. Outside it, a girl and a boy huddled together, trembling.
The three exchanged glances before finally pushing Tanjiro forward to handle the conversation, and the results were immediate.
With his powerful sense of smell, Tanjiro detected a strong demonic scent inside the mansion. The demon was probably about as powerful as Susamaru and Yahaba, whom they had encountered before-another high-level demon.
Beside him, Zenitsu trembled in fear. He had no confidence when it came to high-level demons. He didn't even know how he had passed the Final Selection. All he remembered was running around inside, and there had even been a stretch when he had lost consciousness. It was sheer luck that no demon had eaten him.
Chinatsu estimated the timing. In the original story, a boy had been flung out of the mansion while Tanjiro and the others were talking, then died of blood loss right in front of them.
But that hadn't happened yet. It seemed there was still time. Perhaps that boy could still be saved.
"Tanjiro, stay here. I'll handle this one alone." Chinatsu gripped the scabbard at her waist and walked toward the mansion, step by step.
Although Tanjiro wanted to go with her, he didn't think the demon inside the mansion posed much danger to his sister. Besides, the two children beside him needed protection, so he nodded and simply told her to be careful.
"Tanjiro... your... your sister's going in alone? Isn't that too dangerous...? Maybe... maybe you should go with her. I'll protect these two kids. I should be able to manage that," Zenitsu said uneasily.
Hearing that immediately improved Tanjiro's opinion of Zenitsu. Still, he didn't accept his suggestion, merely answering with a smile, "It's fine. Like I said earlier, my sister is stronger than I am."
Zenitsu knew Chinatsu was strong, but he had no idea just how strong. The gender imbalance in the Demon Slayer Corps was considerable, especially in its frontline units. Most of the women in the Corps served in support units, and the female-to-male ratio on the front lines could reach one to nine.
There hadn't been a single female disciple among his fellow students. Otherwise, he would have tried finding a girlfriend within their ranks.
"Don't worry. My sister is the strongest."
Tanjiro had complete confidence in his sister. Meanwhile, Chinatsu raced against the clock as she charged into the mansion. She didn't have Tanjiro's keen nose and couldn't pinpoint the demon's location by scent.
But the mansion was only so large. Even if she really couldn't find the demon, she could make it come to her. After all, what demon would let someone destroy its territory unchecked?
A faint drumming came from an indeterminate direction. As the drum sounded, Chinatsu could feel the arrangement of the mansion's rooms changing.
Running back and forth through these corridors would waste too much time. Chinatsu's gaze sharpened, and she unleashed Water Breathing's strongest technique.
"Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux!"
Gripping her Nichirin Blade, its sword aura condensed into a water dragon, Chinatsu rushed toward a wall. She chose to ignore the walls altogether and carve a path straight through them.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The walls shattered one after another. Even Tanjiro and Zenitsu outside the mansion could clearly hear the thunderous crashes.
"Wh-what's happening?!" Zenitsu cried in shock, covering his ears with both hands.
Inside the mansion, a boy wearing a boar's head mask froze. He turned his head toward the source of the noise.
A few seconds later, the wall he was staring at shattered with a bang!!! A water dragon swept toward him, smashed through the wall behind him right before his eyes, then continued straight ahead, breaking through several more walls until it vanished completely from view.
"Wh... what the heck was that...?"
Beneath the boar's head mask, the boy blinked blankly and murmured the question in a daze.
Before you continue